Method for configuring prach resource, method for acquiring resource configuration, base station, and user equipment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016353486-A1
Application number	US-201615233549-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 10, 2016
Priority date	Feb 10, 2014
Publication date	Dec 1, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present invention relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a method for configuring a physical random access channel (PRACH) resource, a method for acquiring a PRACH resource configuration, a base station, and user equipment. The method for configuring a resource includes configuring, by a base station, a supported coverage enhancement level and a PRACH resource corresponding to the coverage enhancement level, and transmitting, by the base station to user equipment, a resource index and/or resource configuration information of the PRACH resource configured for the coverage enhancement level, so that the user equipment acquires the corresponding PRACH resource, and transmits a preamble on the acquired PRACH resource.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method comprising:
configuring, by a base station, a supported coverage enhancement level and a physical random access channel (PRACH) resource corresponding to the supported coverage enhancement level; and transmitting, by a base station to a user equipment, a resource index or resource configuration information of the PRACH resource configured for the supported coverage enhancement level, wherein the user equipment acquires the corresponding PRACH resource, and transmits a preamble on the acquired PRACH resource.

2 . The method according to claim 1 :
wherein the PRACH resource comprises a time-domain resource; wherein the resource configuration information of the time-domain resource comprises at least one of: a preamble format, a density of enhanced transmission opportunities of a preamble, a transmission opportunity of a preamble for an enhanced transmission at a density, and a quantity of repetitions for each enhanced transmission of a preamble; and wherein the method further comprises transmitting, by the base station to the user equipment, a resource index of a time-domain resource configured for the supported coverage enhancement levels, in response to the resource comprising the time-domain resource, wherein each index corresponds to resource configuration information of a one time-domain resource.

3 . The method according to claim 2 , further comprising:
configuring a starting radio frame number list used to transmit the preamble within each radio frame period, in response to configuring the quantity of repetitions for each enhanced transmission of the preamble, wherein a quantity of frames between every two radio frame numbers is in the starting radio frame number list, wherein the starting radio frame number list comprises a maximum radio frame number indicating a quantity of radio frames used to continuously transmit the preamble, wherein, after receiving all resource indexes of time-domain resources configured for the supported coverage enhancement level by the base station, the user equipment queries, according to the resource indexes, for the starting radio frame number list, and wherein the starting radio frame number list comprises a maximum starting radio frame number used to transmit the preamble within each radio frame period, to determine the quantity of radio frames used to continuously transmit the preamble; and configuring a starting radio frame number list used to transmit the preamble within each radio frame period and a quantity of radio frames used to continuously transmit the preamble after each starting frame, in response to configuring the quantity of repetitions for each enhanced transmission of the preamble, wherein, after receiving the resource index of the time-domain resource configured for the supported coverage enhancement level by the base station, the user equipment queries for the starting radio frame number list used to transmit the preamble within each radio frame period and the quantity of radio frames used to continuously transmit the preamble after each starting radio frame number frame, and wherein the starting radio frame number list and a quantity correspond to the resource index.

4 . The method according to claim 1 :
wherein the PRACH resource comprises a frequency-domain resource; wherein configuration information of the frequency-domain resource comprises a frequency offset value; wherein the frequency offset value indicates an offset of a starting location with respect to a starting location of a carrier frequency band, for an enhanced transmission of a preamble at each coverage enhancement level, or wherein the frequency offset value indicates frequency-domain frequency separation for enhanced transmissions of preambles at different coverage enhancement levels supported by the base station; and wherein the method further comprises transmitting, by the base station to the user equipment, the frequency offset value configured for the coverage enhancement level in response to the resource comprising the frequency-domain resource.

5 . The method according to claim 4 , further comprising:
configuring a same frequency offset value for different coverage enhancement levels to indicate a same offset of starting locations with respect to the starting location of the carrier frequency band, for enhanced transmissions of preambles at all coverage enhancement levels supported by the base station; or configuring a same frequency offset value for different coverage enhancement levels, to indicate same frequency separation between each coverage enhancement level and a previous adjacent coverage enhancement level; or configuring multiple different frequency offset values, wherein each frequency offset value is used to indicate a frequency offset of a starting location with respect to the starting location of the carrier frequency band, for an enhanced transmission of a preamble at a coverage enhancement level.

6 . A method comprising:
receiving, by user equipment, a resource index or resource configuration information of a physical random access channel (PRACH) resource configured for a coverage enhancement level by a base station; acquiring, by the user equipment, a corresponding PRACH resource according to the received resource index or the resource configuration information; and transmitting a preamble on the acquired PRACH resource.

7 . The method according to claim 6 :
wherein the PRACH resource comprises a time-domain resource; wherein the resource configuration information of the time-domain resource comprises at least one of: a preamble format, a density of enhanced transmission opportunities of a preamble, a transmission opportunity of a preamble for an enhanced transmission at a density, and a quantity of repetitions for each enhanced transmission of a preamble; and wherein the method further comprises receiving a resource index of a time-domain resource configured for the coverage enhancement levels by the base station, in response to the resource comprising the time-domain resource, wherein each index corresponds to resource configuration information of one time-domain resource.

8 . The method according to claim 7 , further comprising:
configuring a starting radio frame number list used to transmit the preamble within each radio frame period, in response to configuring the quantity of repetitions for each enhanced transmission of the preamble, wherein a quantity of frames between every two radio frame numbers is in the starting radio frame number list, wherein the starting radio frame number list comprises a maximum radio frame number of the starting radio frame number list indicating a quantity of radio frames used to continuously transmit the preamble, and, after receiving all resource indexes of time-domain resources configured for the coverage enhancement level by the base station, querying, according to the resource indexes, for the starting radio frame number list comprising a maximum of starting radio frame numbers used to transmit the preamble within each radio frame period, to determine the quantity of radio frames used to continuously transmit the preamble; and configuring a starting radio frame number list used to transmit the preamble within each radio frame period and a quantity of radio frames used to continuously transmit the preamble after each starting frame, in response to configuring the quantity of repetitions for each enhanced transmission of the preamble, and, after receiving the resource index of the time-domain resource configured for the coverage enhancement level by the base station, querying for the starting radio frame number list used to transmit the preamble within each radio frame period and the quantity of radio frames

Assignees

• Huawei Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Xia Jinhuan

Classifications

• H04W72/044 Primary

  based on the type of the allocated resource · CPC title

• H04W74/0833 Primary

  Random access procedures, e.g. with 4-step access · CPC title

• H04W74/006 Primary

  in the downlink, i.e. towards the terminal · CPC title